Although much of Buffy Sainte-Marie's fan base balked at the time at the experimentation of her synth-enhanced sixth album, Illuminations, it is today recognized as one of the strongest records of her career. Buffy herself admitted: "Most of the songs are pretty weird," before adding, "I've always loved it."
The lyrics are an interpretation of a poem that appears in Leonard Cohen's 1966 novel, Beautiful Losers. "I'd read Leonard's book and there it was, " she recalled. "God Is Alive, Magic Is Afoot. I just loved it."
Buffy said of her one-take performance of the song: "I knew what the poem was about, and I knew how the music would feel in my head, but like, flamenco, I didn't know where I was going from line to line. If it sounds stream of consciousness that's because it is."
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